The Latest News From The Zim Family Find out what Jim and the family have been up to lately

After 29 years of marriage, Kellyn and I filed for divorce in July of 2010.  Kellyn has moved out of what will now be my house.  Our decision to divorce was a mutual one, and the situation is mostly amicable.  It was not the result of anything such as an affair or a betrayal, nor was there any third party involved.  This was a long time in coming...  not something from out of the blue.  I know it must SEEM like it's from out of the blue to a lot of our friends, because Kel and I have kept our marital problems private over the years... but this is a situation that we have been dealing with for a very long time.  Divorce was an option that we we have been very reluctant to choose, but finally (after years and years of difficulties) it became clear that it was the best way for us to handle the situation we were in.

On the one hand, our marital problems and our divorce are really no one else's business...  and I suppose that a case could be made for keeping this totally private and not even mentioning it here on the web site.  On the other hand, Kellyn and I have led a very public life here on this site and we've included the world in most of it.  It just doesn't seem possible to carry on with some big charade like nothing happened...  when something big definitely did happen and it is going to have effects on our upcoming litter, our dogs, and our breeding program.

After all, this isn't just any Cocker web site...  it's the Zim Family web site...  and if there's a split in the Zim family, that's news that I think you (our online friends) are probably going to expect to be told about.

From a practical standpoint...  even if we wanted to keep this a completely private matter, it would pretty much be impossible.  The final split happened just a few days before the expected arrival of Joanna's litter of puppies.  As usual, there are going to be two live web cams covering the big event.  Kellyn has delivered every one of our litters so far, and anyone that's been a fan for very long knows that.  So, when the PuppyCams go on and people see that I'm the one delivering pups and Kellyn is nowhere to be seen...  it's going to be pretty obvious that something has happened, whether we announce it or not.  So, I'm just going to be up front with everyone about what is happening.

I know...  it's odd to notify some of our friends about our divorce in this manner.  Of course, those closest to me were notified personally or in a phone call.  And in a perfect world I would break the divorce news to every one of my friends that way.  But I've got a LOT of friends, and it would simply be impractical to call or visit all of them to deliver this news.  So, an awful lot of very dear friends are going to get this news via this somewhat impersonal method.  It's awkward, I know.

Let me answer just a couple of questions that I'm sure will come up...

Will the upcoming Joanna litter be the final Zim litter? And if so, is that partly to do with the divorce?
Yes, and yes. It would just be too tough to continue the breeding program on my own. Having a partner made it do-able.

So, you're retiring from breeding... for sure?
Yes.

Does this mean that the September Pupapalooza is cancelled?
Definitely not! Pupapalooza is definitely on. Let's get all of our forum friends together for the weekend and have a big celebration for the final litter.

Does that mean you will be shutting down the forum?
Definitely not! Nothing on the forum is going to change in the foreseeable future.  It's a thriving online community which I have no intention of messing with!

If the Zim family is splitting, perhaps the name "Zim Family Cockers" doesn't make sense any more. Will you change the name or the address of the web site or the forum?
No. Too much trouble. Everybody knows who we are and where we are. Don't mess with what's already working. Sure, we called it Zim Family Cockers because it was the Zim family working together to breed Cockers. Now will call it Zim Family Cockers because we've got an online family of Cocker lovers.

Will you be keeping Morgan, Haylee, and Joanna permanently? Or re-homing them? Or what?
I've given this a LOT of thought. For a variety of reasons, as long as I can find good homes for all three dogs, I think the best thing to do for all concerned will be to re-home all three of them. I had actually planned on re-homing Joanna all along... and picked out a great home for her quite a few months ago. So, that one's basically a done deal. I've been talking to my #1 choice for Haylee, and they are going to think about it and get back to me. I'm open to suggestions on a good home for Morgan.

If we have a comment or a question that we are uncomfortable posting on the forum about this... will you be offended if we PM or email you about it? Or is the entire subject taboo?
I am pretty difficult to offend. Feel free to say what's on your mind in a private message or an email.

Will we be hearing "Kellyn's side of the story"?
I doubt it. While she remains a member of our online forum and is certainly welcome to post her comments... I believe her intention is to not participate in the forum any further and also not to participate in the upcoming litter, the September Pupapalooza, or the November Cruise-A-Palooza.

Does this mean you won't be going on the Cruise-A-Palooza?
I am definitely going to be going on the Cruise-A-Palooza. I was unable to book a cabin up until now due to the complexities of splitting our financial affairs. But I fully intend to book my cabin between now and when the special Carnival sale prices end at the end of this month. I will be cruising solo.

OK... that's our announcement.  This was not news I ever wanted to have to deliver.  It's been a sad time at the Zim house, but all I can do is move forward and try to start a new life.

Keep scrolling down the page for more news from our neck of the woods.  And I promise it will be much happier news...

I've got a new camera!

As someone who is really in to photography, having a new camera is kind of a big deal to me!  And this is one fantastic camera.  It's the latest and greatest in Canon's "Digital Rebel" line of cameras...  called the Canon T2i.  I also sold off a couple of the lenses I used to own and upgraded to the image-stabilized 18-135mm lens after one of my friends let me try out his.  And because I like the feel of a slightly larger camera, I added the "battery grip" which attaches to the bottom of the camera and gives it a more solid feel and double the battery life.  Click here to read more about my new camera, and to see some photos I've shot with it.

Talk about a photo opportunity!  My friends, Rick & Lucinda Wallace, invited me to on a ride in their hot air balloon...  and there were some amazing views from up there!

Take a look at this page to see more photos from my April 2010 balloon adventure!

In February of 2010, Kellyn and I had the privilege of cruising on the west coast's newest cruise ship...  the Carnival Splendor.  We even decided to really "go for it" by staying in a suite, instead of just booking a regular cabin.

While we did experience two days of rain on our 7-day cruise, we didn't let it ruin our vacation!  We had a great time.  This was our sixth cruise with Carnival and our seventh cruise overall...  and it definitely won't be our last!

Click here to see many more pictures from our February cruise vacation, including the amazing photos I was able to get on a whale watching expedition off the coast of Cabo San Lucas.

August/September 2009 was a wonderfully fun time for me, with three big trips in a four-week period!  It started with our first-ever Cruise-A-Palooza...  a fun trip to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, with members of our online Cocker Spaniel forum.

Me and eight women on a vacation to Cabo San Lucas.  Definitely my idea of fun!
Read more about it, and see LOTS of pictures, in this section of our forum.

Less than a week after getting off the cruise ship, I began my next big summer adventure...  a trip up to my sister's farm in Washington state, to be our official family photographer during the county fair.  You see...  up on the farm, the county fair is kind of a big deal!  Especially so this year... as my "niece", Kindra, had raised a pig to show at the fair, and also had submitted a bunch of pictures in the photo competition.  To make a long story short...  Kindra was a big winner at the fair!  Not only can we now refer to her as the award-winning photographer, but also as a grand champion swine showman.

Kindra is named Grand Champion Swine Showman, as her grandparents cheer in the background.
For more stories and a lot more photos from the fair, see this thread and this thread in our forum.

One thing that made the trip to Washington especially fun for me was the fact that I got to fly there.  Over the years, I have made the 1000 mile drive (each way!) to my sister's farm many, many times.  But for this trip, I got to fly...  which was really a treat.  I love to fly!  I'm a visual person, and the views up there are just amazing.  Any excuse to get in an airplane is OK as far as I'm concerned.  As much as I love to fly, though, I very rarely get to do it.  In fact, it had been about TWENTY YEARS since the last time I got to fly!  So, when my sister offered to fly me up there (using her frequent flyer miles) if I would take pictures at the fair...  it was an easy offer to accept!  Take a look at a few pictures I shot during the trip up there.

A week after getting home from fair week in Washington, I was off on yet another big adventure!  This one took me to the coast of Oregon for the Pacific Northwest Pupapalooza.  As luck would have it, once again I got to fly!  Pupapaloozas are always fun...  you get to meet a lot of nice people who share a passion for Cocker Spaniels.  This one was especially interesting because there was a big emphasis on dog obedience and agility.

For more photos, take a look at this album I posted to Facebook
and also look through this section of our Cocker forum.

Our son, Jeff, has graduated from college!

Jeff graduated with honors from San Diego State University on May 23rd.  Summa Cum Laude...  which means his grade point average was above 3.8, equivalent to an "A".

Also, at his school's end-of-the-year film festival (he is in the school of Theatre, Television, and Film) he was given an award for "best directing".  For years now, we have called him by the nickname of "Director Jeff"...  now we will have to address him as "the award winning Director Jeff".

It was a proud day for us!  He has accomplished what neither Kellyn or I could.  Both of us made it to our senior year of college, but dropped out before graduating.

Kellyn and I got to go on a hot-air balloon ride!

Our friends, the Wallace Family, owners of three Zim puppies, have been balloon enthusiasts for years...  with several licensed pilots in the family and well over a thousand flights under their belts.  They were coming up to our area for a balloon event in late April and asked if we wanted to come along for a ride.  To see more pictures from our balloon adventure, take a look at this thread on our forum.

On April 4th, 2009, Kellyn and I celebrated our 28th wedding anniversary!
Here's a picture of "the happy couple"...

To find out how we chose to celebrate the occasion, click here

A new year, another cruise!

In January of 2009, we had the privilege of taking another cruise...  our fourth cruise overall, and our third with Carnival Cruise Lines.  We took the 8-day cruise out of San Diego on the Carnival Spirit...  visiting Acapulco, Zihuatanejo, and Manzanillo.  This cruise was extra special because we had someone special along with us:  our son, Jeff!  Spending 8 days with him in such a fun environment was great.  We'd do it again in a heartbeat.  Check out a lot more pictures from our cruise here.

In October we had a special visit from our friends, the Groves.

Connor, Jennifer, and Rachel Grove

We just love these people, and we'd adopt them all if we could!  They seem to like us, too.  Every now and then they just come up and visit with us for a weekend.  You'd think they'd have better things to do, but I guess not!  We always enjoy their visits, and they are one of a very small few who we have ever offered our guest room to.  During their October visit we had a litter of puppies at the time, and Rachel got to be the only guest we've ever allowed to sleep in the puppy palace!

We had a little family reunion in July!

All three of my siblings, plus both of my kids and even my 89 year old mother all came to our area to spend some time together.  (Jeff didn't make it in to the photo, but he was here for the reunion.)  We had fun hanging out at the pool at their hotel, watching movies here in our "home theatre", and eating way too much!  This is two years in a row that they've come to our area.  I suspect next year I'm going to have to go to their turf.

2008 has been the "year of the cruise" for us!  It had been 12 years since the last time we were on a cruise ship, but in 2008 we've already been on TWO cruises!

In January, we took a 5-day cruise to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, onboard the Carnival Elation.  Then, to celebrate our 27th wedding anniversary in April, we took an 8-day cruise on the Norwegian Star to Acapulco, Mexico.

Why so many cruises this year?  Several factors all worked together to make this a perfect year for cruising:  Normally, it's hard for us to get away because when we have puppies we need to be home to take care of them.  This year, we aren't expecting any puppies until much later this summer.  Also, with both Jim & Kellyn working and with only one kid still in college, we find ourselves with more money in the vacation fund than we've ever had before.  Finally, there's a sense that we're both enjoying fairly good health right now and who knows how long we'll be able to say that?!?  So, cruise while the cruising is good!

Thanksgiving 2007 was a special time for us...  with Jeff coming home for a few days.  We've missed having him around!  Earlier in the year, he moved to San Diego to attend San Diego state university.  He's living in a house (right next to the campus) with about six other guys.  From what we've heard, it sounds like "party central"!  We figure that he's at the age where he should be living life to the fullest...  and we're glad to hear about all the fun he's having.  Here's a picture that I snapped of him the day before Thanksgiving...

By the way, the photo was shot with my Canon Digital Rebel XTi and was one of my first test shots with a fancy new ultra-zoom lens I bought.  If this photo is any indication of the quality of the shots I'll be able to get with the new lens...  I'm pretty excited!

Kellyn has a new hair-do...  and she looks pretty darned good, don't you think?

August 2007

In July of 2007 we had a family reunion at our house...  with my mom, all of my siblings, and our kids all getting the chance to spend a few days together.  It's rare that all of us can ever get together at the same time, so this was a very special opportunity.  Here's a photo of the whole family:

My mom is in the center of the photo.  Kellyn and I are over on the right side.
My brother is in the front, and his wife is sitting beside my mom.
In the back row, from left to right:
Our daughter and her husband, my sister and her husband, my other sister, and our son
 

We've got an empty nest now at our house.  In July of 2007, our son, Jeff, moved to San Diego.  He wanted to get all settled in down there prior to beginning classes in late August at attend San Diego State University...  where he'll be majoring in television, film, and new media production.

Jeff attended a community college here at home for the last three years, and put a lot of money away while living inexpensively and making good money at his job at KSBY-TV where he directed the evening newscasts.  He hopes to work for the NBC affiliate in San Diego soon.

What will happen to Jeff's old room at home?  Will it get turned in to a guest room?  A puppy room?  A computer room?  We're not sure yet!

Jeff recently bought a Canon Digital Rebel XTi camera...  after being impressed with mine.  Check out his web site at www.jeffzimmerlin.com to see some of his pictures!

We have a new member of the family!  Here's he is, doing what he does best...

His name is "Mo"...  inspired by Pismo, the puppy on the far left of the preceding photo.  Mo was actually a present for Morgan, one of our Cocker Spaniels.  Morgan is absolutely crazy about cats...  and when we saw her with some calm Persian cats at one of our friend's house, we realized that if Morgan got together with a very calm and confident cat that would get scared and run away, she and the cat could become very good pals.  So, we headed off to our local animal shelter and found the friendliest and most confident cat that we could find...  one who had lived with a Golden Retriever (in Grover Beach, no less)...  and we brought him home.  He and Morgan didn't exactly hit it off at first...  but we're working on it.  As for Jeff and Kellyn and me...  Mo has impressed us with his calm and friendly nature!

One of my favorite things to do during the summer is to make the 1000 mile drive (each way!) to visit my sister and her family on their farm in Washington state.  During the summer of 2006, Kellyn and Jeff weren't able to go with me, so I took my mother instead.  I took lots of great photos during my farm vacation.  Here's one of my favorites, just to give you a sample.

That's me and my favorite "niece".  She's not really my niece, but that's what I call her since it's simpler than the full explanation!  She's just as sweet and adorable as she looks in the picture, and it's always a pleasure to see her during my Washington trips.  For a much more detailed look at all the fun I had in Washington in the summer of 2006, click here.

Here's a gorgeous picture that I took in early May.  This photo was taken on PG&E property, just north of the Diablo Canyon power plant where I work.  I had the opportunity to take two hours on company time photographing some of the beautiful scenery in the protected buffer zone that surrounds the power plant.

  The picture above has been resized to give you a glimpse...  but the full-sized version is much more impressive!  Click on the picture above to see the high resolution (3230x700 pixel) version of the photo.  After the high-resolution version downloads, your web browser will probably resize it to fit your screen.  (That's bad.)  If so, point your mouse to the lower right corner of the resized photo and click on the "expand" button to see the high resolution photo in all its glory!
  

25 years!

On April 4th, 2006, Kellyn and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary.  To mark the occasion, we spent a few days at Disney's Grand Californian Hotel in Anaheim...  and had a great time at Disneyland, Disney's California Adventure, and in the Downtown Disney district.

For your amusement, here's a photo from our wedding day 25 years ago, and a photo taken on our 25th anniversary.

See more pictures and read my comments about the Grand Californian hotel and the Disney Resort by clicking here.

I have the most amazing and generous friends!

In August of 2005, my friends Robin & Gene Burdick absolutely rocked my world by giving me a laptop computer and an industrial-quality webcam that had been gathering dust at their house.  Gene & Robin used to work for Intel, and got all sorts of interesting high-tech stuff for free.  It seemed like a real waste to them for this expensive equipment to go un-used, and they new that I could definitely put it to good use here!  These were not outdated or low-budget items, either...  the webcam sells for about $1500 and is the type used for very sophisticated industrial and commercial surveillance applications.  The laptop computer is also very sophisticated...  nice and lightweight and with wireless networking built-in.  I've definitely been enjoying them...  thanks Gene & Robin!!!

As if that wasn't enough good fortune for one guy to have, in September two of my other friends did something very similar.  Janet Gingrich and her husband, Butch, bought a very expensive digital SLR camera a year or two ago...  but have found that they actually prefer to use their simpler point-and-shoot digital camera instead.  So, their Canon EOS 10D has been sitting unused in a closet somewhere for quite a long time.  They decided that this was a big waste of potential, and that of all the people that they knew, I would surely be able to get the most use out of this camera.  So, they gave it to me.  With three lenses and a bunch of accessories, this was about a $2500 gift.  Wow!

The camera arrived at a great time...  just a few days before our most recent batch of puppies headed of to their new homes...  so I was able to test out the camera by taking lots of puppy pictures.  Click here to see my first test photos with the Canon camera.  In the first ten minutes of playing with the camera, I got some of the best puppy photos I've ever taken!

This is an updated picture of Kellyn, and I think it's kind of cute!

Kel is in a two year training program to become an ultrasound technician.  She attends classes two days a week, and studies five days a week!  She takes it very seriously, and is doing very well in her studies.

Right now she's learning the basics of being a medical assistant...  everything from basic anatomy to how to draw blood.  Later this year she'll do an internship in some sort of medical assistant capacity. 

After a good foundation in the basics, she'll get trained in the specifics of working with ultrasound equipment later in the two-year program.

How did she get here?  After more than 15 years of clerical employment with our local university, Kel had to retire with a disability from all those years of repetitive motion.  It took several surgeries and a lot of recuperation, but now she's finally ready to get back to work. 

The state of California offered to pay for training in any vocation she thought she would be physically capable of doing with her disability.  She gave it a lot of thought, and decided that being an ultrasound technician would be within her capabilities. 

She's very excited about the new changes in her life, and looking forward to new challenges ahead!
 

Here's a somewhat embarrassing story, and I certainly deserve a "dunce cap" for this one!

This happened at our third annual "Pupapalooza", which is something of a reunion of puppies we have bred, combined with a Cocker Convention for Spaniels from all over California.  We had 34 Cockers all running off-leash at our favorite local beach.  People drove from hundreds of miles away to be there.  It was tremendously fun!

We were experiencing very warm weather that day, so minimal clothing was definitely called for.  I wore shorts and a t-shirt, which is unusual for me.  Normally, I try to catch as little sun as possible, at the advice of my Oncologist, following cancer treatments several years ago.

Since I knew I would be spending several hours in the sun, the very first thing I did upon arrival at the beach was to apply a total sunblock (SPF50) to all exposed skin.  This worked fine, and in retrospect I did not burn or even tan anywhere that I applied sunblock to.  However, there was one aspect of all of this that I didn't fully think through!

At the time I applied the sunblock, I was wearing shoes and socks.  A little while later, when I realized I was going to want to wade in to the water, I took the shoes and socks off...  and they remained off for the rest of the afternoon.  This exposed the top of my feet to the mid-day sun for several hours.

By the time Pupapalooza was over, I realized that my feet were getting sunburned, but I really didn't realize how severely I had screwed up.  To make a long story short...  by the next evening I knew I had a big problem, as my feet were not just burned, they were starting to blister.  Later, in the emergency room of our local hospital, the doctor informed me that I had sustained second degree burns to both of my feet.

I've got a picture that really is worth a thousand words.  I have to warn you, though, that it's EXTREMELY graphic and may totally gross you out.  Don't follow the link if you're squeamish!  But if you want to see what happened to my feet, and you're not easily grossed out, click here.  This is not some kind of joke where you follow the link and there's a funny picture as the punchline...  I'm serious about this being a gross picture of my burned and blistered feet.  Consider yourself warned!

I'll be off work and mostly sitting with my feet propped up for a while!

April 30th, 2005, was a big day around here!  Our 21-year-old daughter, Sheri, married her long-time boyfriend, Jason.  They've been best friends for years, and now they're husband and wife.

Because the church that they attend is in the middle of new construction, they decided to have the ceremony at a local park.  It was a beautiful Spring afternoon, and things could hardly have been more perfect.  You always hear about wedding disasters, things that go horribly wrong, or embarrassing incidents...  but Sheri & Jason's wedding was a story of things that went right.  Truly a wonderful day and smooth, meaningful ceremony to begin their married life.

Ironically, we first met Jason about 8 years ago when we sold a Cocker Spaniel puppy to his family...  and that dog, Gretzky, is still doing fine and living with Sheri & Jason today.

Kellyn and I had a huge thrill on April 12th when we got to attend the opening game of the 2005 season at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.  We've been trying to get tickets to opening day for several seasons...  but they're hard to get.  This year, we managed to pull it off!

We were rewarded with an incredible baseball game that we won't soon forget!  The Dodgers played their arch-rivals, the San Francisco Giants...  managed to let the Giants score eight runs (five in the top of the first inning)...  and yet the Dodgers still pulled off a come-from-behind victory in the bottom of the ninth inning!  Final score:  Dodgers 9, Giants 8.

Kellyn has been a Dodger fan ever since growing up in the LA area and listening to Vin Scully do the play-by-play on the radio.  I grew up in the San Francisco area, but came to be a Dodgers fan in the 70's while working at a radio station that broadcasted all the Dodger games.

This was the first of several games we'll be attending at Dodger stadium this year...  and we'll even be traveling to Pac Bell Park in San Francisco late in the season to see the Dodgers beat the Giants again.

We had a lot to celebrate on April 4, 2005...  Mrs. Zim and I celebrated our 24th wedding anniversary!

It doesn't seem like all that long ago that I dazzled her on our first date with my home-made lasagna and my groovy bachelor pad.  The part I like the most is just remembering how comfortable it all felt right from that very first date on.  She sure seemed like someone I would enjoy spending a very long time with...  and that's exactly how it turned out.

We didn't have a huge celebration for anniversary #24...  just a nice day together and a quiet evening out at one of our favorite restaurants...  but we do have big plans for a Caribbean cruise when #25 rolls around in 2006!
 

Jeff had a week off from school for Spring Break in March, so he and I drove down to San Diego to take a look at San Diego State University and to meet the folks at the NBC owned-and-operated TV station in downtown San Diego.

We spent three days in San Diego, but the highlight was definitely a few hours spent getting an insider's view of the news operation at the TV station.  One of Jeff's coworkers introduced him to a director at the station, who gave us a fantastic look at life at a major-market TV station.

I took a whole bunch of pictures of our adventures in San Diego...  click here to see them.

Jeff has created a new web site for himself.  I find this particularly ironic since just a few years ago he was sneaking on to my computer in the middle of the night to delete pictures of himself off of our family's web site!  I guess he's got a lot more to be self-confident about these days!

Check out Jeff's personal web site at www.JeffZimmerlin.com

 For more about Jeff, click here to see some pictures I took of him on the job in the KSBY control room.  He let me sit in on a newscast one night, and I got some great shots of him directing the show.

Kellyn and I enjoyed a great concert at the California Mid-State Fair last August.

Country singer Phil Vassar entertained us for the second year in a row.  His concert at the fair last year was so good that we were delighted when we heard they had booked him again this year!

If you know your country music, you know Phil for his hits "Carlene", "That's When I Love You", and "American Child"...  but you may not know that he's the songwriter behind Tim McGraw's hit "My Next Thirty Years", Jo Dee Messina's hit "I'm Alright", and Alan Jackson's hit "Right On The Money".

Seeing musical acts at the California Mid-State Fair is one of our favorite summer activities.  We are always amazed at the quality of the entertainers they book, and the low price of admission.  Some of our favorites over the last few years have been Kenny Chesney, Carolyn Dawn Johnson, The Gatlin Brothers, and Highway 101...  for a $4 admission charge and $5 to park!  You can not beat that!

We had a wonderful time last July during a vacation to my sister's farm in Washington state.  It's a 1000 mile drive each way, but worth every bit of the effort.  It was basically a week of doing things we love with people we love...  including the little cutie you see pictured here in my lap.  That's our grand-niece, Kindra...  and she's every bit as sweet and adorable as she looks in this picture.

We took our 3-month-old puppy, Reese, along with us, too...  and she had just as much fun as we did!  She made a lot of new friends, and provided a lot of entertainment for us all.  Life is good for a dog on a farm.

I took about a million pictures on our vacation.  Click here to see some of my favorites!

As you can probably figure out from the photo, we got another one through high school!  Our boy, Jeff, graduated from Arroyo Grande High School in June of 2004, and is now attending Cuesta College in San Luis Obispo.

He went through a period for a few years where he just wouldn't let us snap his photo, but he's loosening up about it these days...  and he let me take this photo after the graduation ceremony.

What's next for our 19 year-old whiz kid?  He wants to continue working at the local NBC-TV affiliate for the next several years while he completes some general education classes at the local junior college.  By living at home and keeping his expenses low for the next couple of years, he hopes to put together a big enough nest egg to allow him to attend San Diego State University as a broadcasting major someday.

There's more information about Jeff, and some great pictures of him on the job in the KSBY control room, over on our kids page.
 

Mrs. Zim is doing much better now, after spending over two months with a cast on her right leg in 2004.

Kellyn had a birth defect in one of her feet that has caused her to walk with a limp...  and it just was getting worse and worse as she got older.  A prior surgery on the foot didn't really help much, but this time she found a surgical specialist that had some good new ideas.

Recovery from the surgery was painful, but things got a bit better every day.  She put on a nice smile for the camera, but that foot was hurting pretty good when this photo was taken.

But for the first time since I've known her, the foot points in the right direction now.  There are three screws holding it together...  I joke that her foot used to be all screwed up, and now it's screwed together!

After the successful foot surgery, she went through even MORE surgery...  this time on one of her arms.  Kellyn suffered repetitive motion injuries after years and years of doing repetitive tasks for the Cal Poly Foundation.  She was so impressed with the doctor that did the foot surgery that she let him take a shot a fixing her arm.  While he was able to improve things somewhat, it wasn't quite the miracle surgery that he was able to perform on the foot.  Let's put it this way...  she's never going to be able to go back to repetitive clerical work again.

If you've enjoyed this page, please take a moment to write and let me know!
My email address is:  jimzim@charter.net

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